The forces lining up to oppose Johnson’s proroguing must find a way to win over those who have lost faith in representative democracy

And so one of the longest running dramas in British political history reaches yet another act. Some of the cast are locked into much the same roles as ever: Gina Miller is once again striding off to the courts; the great urban remain armies are turning out with their homemade placards, while the People’s Vote campaign sends out emails signed by Michael Heseltine; front-rank Tory politicians are apparently prepared to trade in whatever faint principles they once claimed to hold dear, in the hope of holding their party together, whatever the price.

Other characters seem to be changing. Jeremy Corbyn and his aides may have belatedly discovered the art of reaching out to people beyond their inner circle. Militant Labourites who have mostly affected indifference about Brexit and told us that parliament was a rat’s nest of ruling class interests stuffed full of centrists are suddenly barging their way to the front, suddenly convinced that the traditions of representative democracy might actually be worth defending.

The idea that senior politicians break the rules and do whatever they want is, to use a modern phrase, priced in